Mumm’s the word at Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s has knocked £15 off the price of a bottle of Mumm Champagne ahead of Mother’s Day next Sunday.

The cut, which was launched across its main estate yesterday and is set to run until 15 March, is part of a range of promotion rolled out on around 100 lines in the wine aisle – the first promo it has run since Sainsbury’s announced it was stopping multi-buys across the store in favour of an every day low pricing strategy.

As well as the price on Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut NV Champagne being cut from £35 to £20, Veuve Clicquot Rose NV Champagne has also been cut £12 from £45 to £33 in the promotion. Six other champagne prices are down by £10, including Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top Brut NV 75cl, Jacquart Brut Mosaique 75cl and Brut Rose as well as Laurent Perrier, Brut BV Champagne.

However, the overwhelming majority of the promotions affect still wines, with most reductions between £1 – 2.50, in line with the new pricing strategy,

When it announced its new pricing earlier this month, Sainsbury’s had noted there would be “a few exceptions” where multi-buy promotions could be used at “certain” times of the year. In the last year, the retailer has reduced its dependence on multi-buys gradually, with around 80% fewer multi-buys than a year ago across its whole estate.

Total champagne sales grew 4.3% by value and 4.9% by volume in the 52 weeks to 2 January 2016, according Nielsen data, with Rose champagne outperforming blanc, at 9.6% year-on-year in value, or 9.6% by volume. Growth largely came from ‘healthy’ growth rather than that driven by price promotion.